A Kenyan university is facing severe criticism after a woman was killed and up to 30 people injured when a safety drill was mistaken for a genuine terrorist attack, causing terrified students to flee and jump out of upper-floor windows.
Strathmore University confirmed in a statement on Monday that a staff member, Esther Kidemba, had died as a result of “severe head injuries” during the exercise. She is reported to have thrown herself out of a third-storey window.
Students told local radio station Capital FM that loud bangs and people pretending to be extremist attackers had caused panic at the university, causing everyone to rush to the exits.
Strathmore Uni students teetering on the edge about to take a leap. it was all a drill. pic.twitter.com/O5bcmPEaHK
— James Smart (@jamessmat) November 30, 2015
“We were not informed, we were not aware at all,” one student later said from hospital, “we just heard gunshots and had to run for our dear lives.”
“The situation was aimed at testing the preparedness of the university community and emergency team in the event of an attack,” said the official statement, “unfortunately some of the students panicked and got injured.”
On Tuesday morning the university tweeted that the vice chancellor had briefed the Kenyan cabinet on the situation and had ordered a full investigation into “how a drill of that magnitude took place without prerequisite communication”.
The Kenyan police service said institutions should refrain from organising terror drills of their own accord to prevent similar tragedies occurring. “We are on high alert and in case of an attack do not panic, do not kill yourself, we will always be there for you” said inspector Charles Owino Wahong’o in a statement.
Criticism
Kenyans online have been very critical of the university failure to apologise or accept responsibility for the situation.
In airplanes they show you where the emergency exists are,how to use a life jacket.They don't simulate a crash. Strathmore did the reverse.
— Boniface Mwangi (@bonifacemwangi) November 30, 2015
The official statement was branded as insensitive, with many asking how a drill meant to keep people safe could have been so ill-conceived.
The #StrathmoreDrill was like those medieval medicines that were more dangerous than the diseases they were trying to cure. Tragic.
— Charles Onyango-Obbo (@cobbo3) November 30, 2015
Others questioned the level of force used in the drill and asked why students weren’t given adequate warning.
Catching up with the #StrathmoreDrill. KE citizens trauma inflicted by terrorism is worse than we care to admit. People are living in fear.
— Oyunga Pala (@realoyungapala) December 1, 2015
Garissa
Memories of the attack on Garissa university in April, where 147 people were killed by Somali extremists al-Shabaab, are fresh in the minds of many Kenyans, especially university students.
Security #DrillFail as worker dies at Strathmore University #WordedTuesday #TuskysNgongMilele #WorldAIDSDay pic.twitter.com/MXtLregJ7Q
— Kashfa (@Kashfacartoon) December 1, 2015
A week after the Garissa attacks, with tensions still high, one student died and more than 100 were injured when students of a Nairobi university stampeded and jumped out of windows after they mistook a loud blast caused by an electrical fault for a terrorist attack.
In October students of Moi university in western Kenya fled the campus grounds fearing an attack after the administration revealed that four missing students may have joined al-Shabab.
Kenya has experienced a wave of bomb and grenade attacks since it sent its troops to Somalia to fight al-Shabab in October 2011.
